In this episode Helena discusses Aqsa Arif. Helena is a Master;s student in Global Governance & Diplomacy. She is a student journalist with us on a placement organised by the Oxford University Career Services. This article was edited using the ChatGPT.
🎧 listen to Helena’s backstory here - he discusses her motivation & research as well.
Helena also wrote a short article about Aqsa Arif with a summary inforgraphic - A quick 2 minute read.
Aqsa Arif is an artist who lives in Glasgow, Scotland, and comes from Pakistan. She had to leave Pakistan when she was five years old, and this made her feel conflicted inside. This feeling greatly affects her art. She says, "I lived with two different cultures... My background influences my artwork."
One of her projects involves taking pictures of South Asian women who now live in Scotland. She makes these pictures big and puts them on fabric. Through digital photography, she shows how these women share similar struggles.
Arif stands out from other artists because she uses different types of art like films, prints, photos, and poems to explore her mixed heritage, moving countries, and feeling like she doesn't fully belong anywhere. She likes to tell stories inspired by old tales, myths, and movies. For instance, she created something called "Anam ki Almari," which mixes film and ceramic art to talk about how the West sees South Asia. Her goal is to make people understand the hidden histories of colonialism.
She also did a project called the Seven Queens of Sindh where she acted as one of these legendary women. By studying what it feels like to belong or not, and how to heal from difficult experiences, Arif imagines a world that existed before and after colonialism. She prefers to work with others, especially people from South Asia and Scotland, to tell their stories respectfully and honestly.
Arif finished studying at Glasgow School of Art in 2019. Since then, she has shown her work in many museums, including the famous Tate Modern. She helped create the Salt Space Co-operative in Glasgow. Her film "Spicy Pink Tea" got into important festivals and won awards. In 2023, she received two big awards for young artists.
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